Anyone who reads my blogs must have an idea that I’ve been a fan of Napoleon Hill for decades. It began with his quote: “Anything the human mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Likewise, I mention that according to The Law of Success, all the principles of success can work for anyone as long as they have a purpose and a plan. As a coach, that translates first and foremost into identifying what people want – their purpose. Before we can make any progress, we have to create the vision.

Not that I want to beat a dead horse, but we have to see where people are and where they want to go. Bob Proctor, who began his stellar career through the study of Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich, is known for this expression. He developed a program in his learning system called The Goal Achiever. A first step in the personal development process, it is an excellent program to determine what your goals are.

Then it’s time for a process that leads to those goals. Preparing the plan is not just an exercise in goal setting. It is also part of coming to believe that what we envision is possible. Belief and faith are important aspects of the Attitude we need to move to the next level. When we cannot see ‘how’ we will attain our goals, it is easy to become discouraged and give up, but a plan provides us with tangible Actions we can take to achieve the specific goals that lead to the accomplishment of our purpose.

Why is it then that even when armed with marvelous plans, we fail to Achieve? David Byrd and Mark Smith write that it is failing to persist in the small actions that are needed every day in order to be successful, the 5 things that Jack Canfield talks about in creating Chicken Soup for the Soul. And why do we fail to persist? We don’t have a system for Accountability.

The idea behind accountability is that someone listens to your goals and action plans, records your target dates and then helps you stay aware of your progress toward your goal through some means of regular communication. Just knowing that someone is going to expect you to accomplish something by a given date is a strong incentive to get the tasks done on time. Knowing this, network marketing organizations have built accountability into their management systems to help their colleagues perform better. Although we can do this on our own, it is greatly facilitated by working with a coach or mentor. Conversely, being able to meander toward your goals delays their accomplishment. It is so easy to put things off and let procrastination rule the day. Given enough delay, the goals you have set for yourself may lose all their energy and be forgotten entirely.

So if you had an opportunity to use an intensive accountability program to significantly accelerate your progress toward your goals, would you be interested? It’s common to use 30 Day Challenges in coaching programs. Many sales training programs are built around 90 Day cycles. And the “Goals Guy” is reported to be helping people make incredible progress by utilizing a special 100 day accountability process.

Perhaps you would benefit from signing up for a program or a business with strong personal development training that would help you break through the issues that were holding you back in a given area. I have several people in my life who help me be accountable – when I’m learning something new like e-commerce or undertaking a new income stream.

What would you want to change in your life? What’s holding you back? What new skill could empower you to new possibilities? You may want to find an accountability coach, both to ask questions that help you discover the next bold step toward your goal as well as to hold your hand and help you to reach new heights. Happy flying!